Sleeping Beauty

This pantomime was a show-piece from start to finish. It had so many wonderful moments, making the production worthy of glowing complements and rapturous applause. Visually, there was a huge effort made with the set, wipes and slick scene changes. The fabulous attention to detail with the stunning costumes and colourful themes, displayed much thought and organisation, even including the girls’ perfectly pleated hair. The size of the cast in the fully inclusive numbers was testament to the dedication of the production team, who gave so many youngsters the opportunity to be part of an amazing experience.  The introduction, by the perfectly cast, Fairy Lilac and Witch Hazel, set the scene for what promised to be a memorable production of Sleeping Beauty. The show opened by featuring the opening chorus to The Greatest Showman, where the lead dancer, in her bright red sequined jacket took centre stage. She sung and moved with great ease and the mega colourful townsfolk added to the spectacle. The young Muddles had not a moment’s hesitation in engaging with the audience. Although this young man has been playing roles from early childhood he has now grown to take his place amongst the more experienced players of the company. It should be no surprise to know that his motherly mentor in the shape of ‘Nurse Hettie’ for this show, is his real father at home and no doubt a major ‘on stage’ influence.  Nurse Hettie Harpic hit the stage with the audience pleaser, ‘Hit me Baby, one more time’, supported by a fabulous, stripy dressed, dance troupe. Fetch and Carry delivered their Post Haste sketch with comic precision and used their synchronicity to make them a really viable duo.  The number ‘True Colours’ was in the perfect hands of Fairy Lilac and the dancing Rainbow Fairies, who were all beautifully adorned in their own colour with wig to match. The ‘On Top of the World’ vision of the courtiers in the Royal Christening scene, appeared idyllic, until bad witch Hazel dramatically entered to disrupt the proceedings and cast her vicious spell. As time moves on to Rose’s school days, we are transported to a Matilda like schoolroom scene, opening in uproar with a brilliantly sung ‘Revolting Children’ and quickly dissolved into hilarious shenanigans with Muddles and Hettie as she challenged the classroom in a quick-fire round of questions. Rose’s birthday party started with a dynamic ‘Can’t Stop the Beat’. The scene was beautifully dressed with dancers in black and white, the King and Queen in a stunning white and gold and Rose perfectly clad in pale sparkling pink. Not to be out done, Hettie led a super upbeat highlight to ‘Dancing Queen’. She got everyone on stage moving and shimmying towards the half time finale only to be foiled by Witch Hazel who freezes the whole cast to move the blue palace clock forward. The Act 2 opening face-off between Fairy Lilac and her fairies in a lilac spot and Fairy Hazel’s fairies in a green spot was very cleverly lit and they effectively sung ‘Trouble’ by Pink to create the element of confrontation. The meeting of Rose and the Prince proved a lovely match. They both had vocal and acting strength which very much warranted their lead status and of course everyone was enraptured by their ‘A Million Dreams’, sung when Rose is finally awakened from her ‘Golden Slumbers’. A special mention has to go to the really atmospheric ‘Ways to be Wicked’ chorus and dancers around the witch’s caldron and to the dramatic dance to ‘No Good Deed’ with the flowers and animals in the scary, thorny forest.  The community singing was really well received and had the audience raising the roof with the Proclaimers ‘I’m Gonna Be’. The Finale certainly had the ‘WOW’ factor too. When the curtain opened there was an evident gasp at the stunning costume plot. Once again, the lead dancer took centre stage for ‘Hold up a Light’. Costumes of Ruby, Gold and White with Rose Pink were truly Stunning! Hettie led the ‘Dancing Queen’ reprise to an elated cast and audience. What a wonderful night of entertainment. Massive congratulations to all the cast, the working directors, stage crew and helpers who put this wonderful show together. Thank You. 

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